If gamescom 2022's most violent/gore game category existed, it's pretty sure that Wanted: Dead there would be a place of choice! Totally unknown to the battalion before my visit to the show, I came away from the presentation quite intrigued and with the desire to see more. It must be said that with the creators of Ninja Gaiden et Dead or Alive at work, it would be wrong to look away!
The title of Soleil Ltd. puts us in the shoes of Lieutenant Hannah Stone, a tough Hong Kong policewoman with an artificial arm who teams up with a group of mercenaries to foil a conspiracy. The game is intended to be Nanardesque and fully assumes this posture. We therefore have relatively clichéd characters who all want to kill soldiers and other mafiosos by the hundreds for the sole purpose of obtaining money. This assumed bias clashes a bit with the rest of the titles I was able to try out at gamescom, but it also brought a welcome breath of fresh air.
Accompanied by one of the game developers for the presentation / handling, I was able to see the game in action in the hands of an experienced player and, clearly, we are on another level compared to what I produced! Wanted: Dead is played in TPS view. We see our character from behind and we progress through offices by attacking the various enemies that get in our way. The approaches are plural but all bourrines. Don't expect to go through a level in stealth-mode. You're here to draw blood, whether it's ranged or melee. Assault rifles, submachine guns, pistols and other grenade launchers are in the game... just like your katana which will allow you to cut the remaining enemies. Extremely dynamic and without any downtime, you will progress through these interior maze (outside levels will also be offered) while trying to stay alive, and it will not always be easy. Your opponents are tricky and your ammunition relatively limited (or else it's me who aims like a foot, which is very likely), which forces a close confrontation. I admit it without worries, it is frankly enjoyable to cut up a soldier who thought to stick a bastos in your skull, and you will be rewarded in ammunition and other points for it. These points can be used in the available talent trees, in order to make Hannah ever stronger and for the game to gain in intensity as the game progresses.
As I progressed, however, I asked myself the question of whether it could be played with several people, since I saw a few sidekicks everywhere with me... and to my great disappointment, no. The fault with this katana combo system, certainly rewarding but impossible to put in multiplayer without undermining certain features like bullet-time (katana time in this case here). It's a shame, but I was able to drown my pain in one of the mini-games available: karaoke, which is played like the rhythm games of 15 years ago!
Everything exudes nostalgia when you play Wanted: Dead. We feel projected at the time of the PS2, with its TPS not always very intelligent but often pleasant to browse. The young teenager in me will take a curious look at it on February 14, even if he would have really enjoyed playing it in co-op.
